The influence of additives and metal rods on the nucleation and growth of gas hydrates

A major technical issue in industrial applications of the gas hydrate storage process is to develop a practical means for rapid hydrate formation. In this paper, the formation processes of HCFC141b (CH3CCl2F) gas hydrate in a column of water with additives and with an iron rod that was placed in the center of the column have been studied to reveal the influence of the additives and the iron rod on the nucleation and growth of the gas hydrate. The water solution column, in a cylindrical glass container, was placed in a thermostatic bath at 274.15-280.15 K and under atmospheric pressure. The experimental results show that, compared to the pure water and the HCFC141b system, the properly placed iron rod combined with proper concentrations of lauryl sodium sulfonate, lauryl sodium sulfate, and sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate-6 considerably reduces the hydrate nucleation time and promotes formation speed. The formation rate of HCFC141b gas hydrate increases with increasing concentration of sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate-6 in the water solution, while the addition of potassium oxalate monohydrate in water has shown no effect on the nucleation and growth of HCFC141b gas hydrate. Under the experimental conditions, both the anion surfactants and the iron rod strongly induce the first nucleation of HCFC141b gas hydrate, while the following growth of the HCFC141b gas hydrate is primarily influenced by the anion surfactant. This experiment suggests a new way of fast formation of clathrate hydrate, which may be much easier for practical application of the gas hydrate for cold storage in air conditioning systems.